Southbridge, MA carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 4% above the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Southbridge, MA shows violent crime at 366.5 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 634.6 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 4% above the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
366.5/100K violent
634.6/100K property
+4% vs U.S.
The verdict
Southbridge earns a C safety grade: violent crime runs 4% above the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
C
PlainCrime safety grade
+4%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
23rd
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
634.6
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Southbridge, MA
Position in the state cohort
Southbridge reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable Massachusetts cities
At 366.5 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Southbridge ranks 37 of 317 — above 280 of the 316 other Massachusetts cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +154.9% against the cohort median of 143.8. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
Comparable rate records
Southbridge's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the Massachusetts cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Southbridge's 366.5 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Oak Bluffs (364.8), Provincetown (368.9), Palmer (375.0), East Brookfield (357.8). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Offense mix
Violent offenses make up an unusually large share of the reported mix
Violent offenses are 36.6% of the 183 Part I offenses reported in Southbridge for 2024, against a median of 21.4% across comparable Massachusetts cities — a gap of 15.2 points. Offense mix is shaped by which agencies report and how incidents are classified as well as by the underlying offenses, so it describes the reported record rather than a settled difference in conditions.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 559.4 per 100,000 in 2020 to 366.5 in 2024 (-34.5%). The highest observed value was 559.4 in 2020 and the lowest 236.2 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property-offense composition
Burglary and vehicle theft carry more of the property total than they do across the cohort
Larceny-theft is 68.1% of reported property offenses in Southbridge, against a cohort median of 78.1%. The remainder is burglary (17) and motor vehicle theft (20). Composition differences of this size usually track what kinds of places and property are present in a jurisdiction.
Property counts dominate Southbridge's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Property rate moved most (2023→2024)
Property Crime Rate
-54.9%
1406.5 → 634.6/100K
Violent Crime Rate
-7.7%
397 → 366.5/100K
Property offenses lead Southbridge's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs US avg
Property Crime
116
634.6
1711
Larceny-Theft
79
432.2
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
20
109.4
-
Burglary
17
93
-
Arson
1
5.5
-
Violent Crime
67
366.5
352
Aggravated Assault
52
284.5
-
Rape
12
65.6
-
Robbery
3
16.4
-
Murder
0
0
-
Southbridge Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Southbridge property crime rate trend
Lead series · fell across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
634.6/100K↓54.9%vs 2023
Southbridge violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
366.5/100K↓7.7%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
16,805
559.4
1237.7
302
2021
Comparable
16,932
236.2
1021.7
213
2022
Comparable
17,687
384.5
904.6
228
2023
Comparable
17,633
397
1406.5
318
2024
Comparable
18,280
366.5
634.6
183
How Southbridge sits among MA peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Southbridge Police Department NIBRS-participating
Southbridge's crime figures on this page originate from Southbridge Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in Massachusetts
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the Massachusetts cities closest to Southbridge in population. Their populations run from 17,863 to 18,627, against 18,280 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These Massachusetts cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Southbridge's 366.5/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Southbridge has a violent crime rate of 366.5 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 634.6 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Southbridge, MA safe? ▼
Southbridge receives a safety grade of C (Average), with a safety score of 58/100. The violent crime rate is 4% above the national average and 19% above the Massachusetts average.
What is the population of Southbridge, MA? ▼
The reporting population for Southbridge is 18,280 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Southbridge? ▼
In 2024, Southbridge reported 67 violent crimes and 116 property crimes, for a total of 183 reported offenses.
How do Southbridge's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Southbridge recorded about one reported offense per 100 residents and one reported violent offense per 273 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Southbridge? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Southbridge's violent crime rate decreased by 7.7%, and the property crime rate decreased by 54.9%.
What is the most common crime in Southbridge? ▼
The most common crime type in Southbridge is larceny-theft, accounting for 43.2% of all reported crimes (79 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Southbridge figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Southbridge, MA rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.